Pretty Eyes & Bow Ties

Flower Crown

"Mr. Montoya, you're back."

My head couldn't have snapped up any quicker.

One week.
While Sebastian got expelled, Eri had been suspended for a mere week but for some reason it felt like an eternity. The whole group had become so used to his presence that we felt like something was missing while he was gone.

He currently stood in the doorway with tired eyes shining above a medical mask, the mask covering his mouth and nose.
The other students murmured amongst themselves as Eri nodded to Raywood and took his seat.

"What's up with the mask, Eri?"  Rye asked him during lunch. Eri looked up from his book and sighed through his nose. He hadn't said a word all day, and as he pulled down his mask we knew why.

The corner of his mouth was swollen, purple, green, and red. The tear in his lips was stitched with black suture string that stood out against the reddened skin of his once bow lips.

Everyone's eyes widened and Eden put a hand over her mouth to muffle a gasp.
"Oh." Rye mumbled.
Eri lifted his mask again and turned back to his book without another word.

It took another few days before Eri could speak again, the swelling going down enough for it not to sound like a mumbled mess of words.
We sat in the shade of a tree waiting for Dad to pick me up when Eri had put a hand on my shoulder to get my attention.
"Hey. Tell your dads thanks for the flowers?" He asked, if not slightly muffled from the mask.
"Yeah. No problem."
My dads had sent Eri flowers while he was in the hospital as a sign of thanks for 'saving' me.

"So..." He began, words seeming to stick to his tongue as I listened to him try to formulate what he was going to say.
"Are you...adopted?"
"What?" I asked dumbly.
"Are you...ya know...adopted?" He said awkwardly.
"No. Why would you think..."
"You got two dads- Not that there's anything wrong with that! But if I took health class right..."
"Oh! Hahahaha!"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing at how embarrassed Eri looked while trying to say what he meant.
"N-no. I'm not adopted. They got one of their friends to be a surrogate mother for them. I have a mix of her and my Dad's genes."
Eri hummed and nodded.
"It must suck having two dads." He chimed.
"And why is that?" I asked defensively.
"Twice the amount of dad jokes."
A snort of laughter ripped through me and had me laying back on the tree for support as I laughed. Next to me I felt Eri shaking with his attempts to restrain his own laughter.
"I wasn't expecting that!" I cried.

"S-so..." I tried as my laughter faded. "You know about my dads. Now how about you? Who do you live with?"
Eri's eyes softened drastically and he looked down at the grass, fiddling with a dandelion. 
"Well...I live with my sister and her family."
I raised a brow at him and tilted my head, waving my hand as a sign for him to go on.
I could see it in his eyes that he was mulling over his words.
"M-my Mom died in a car accident when I was ten. My dad became an abusive drunk and I haven't talked to him in almost five years. My older brother is in jail. So now, I live with my older sister, her husband, and her twins."

I sat staring at him as he continued to play with the little flower.
"What are their names?"
He looked up and furrowed his brow.
"Your family members. What're their names?"
"...My sister is Estrella. My brother is Romero. My dad is Raymundo. My brother-in-law is Diego. The twins are Rosita and Romeo." He stopped and plucked the flower, twirling it between his fingers. "My mom was Rosa."
"Your niece is named after your mother, isn't she?"
He gave me a soft nod.
"And Romeo is after Romero."

"You're latino?" I ask, noticing the slight accent that peeked through when he said the names, even though his words were still a tad muffled by his mask. 
"Yes. Mexican. You?"
"Mexican. And Japanese. I take after my surrogate mother more then my dad."
Eri hummed and nodded.
"I was about to say."

'You two are best friends aren't you?

That's one way to put it.

Do you not consider him a friend?

I do. I really do. But...

But?

We hardly know anything about each other.'

"Eri." I said after a beat too long of silence.
"Yes?"
"Are we friends?"
He glanced at me before quickly turning back.
"W-well...yeah. I assumed we were. Do you not want to be friends?"
"No! No. I do. I was just wondering." I said quickly. "D-do you not want to be friends?"
Eri scoffed and shook his head.
"Without you I got no one, Haven. I'd be an idiot not to be your friend."

I chuckled and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. Eri held the dandelion out towards me and I took it, smiling down at it. After a few minutes, my eyes drifted away from it and landed on another one of the yellow flowers sitting amongst the grass. The longer I looked the more flowers I found sprawled among the green.
I glanced towards Eri ,who was staring off into space, and an idea popped into my head. I crawled over the grass and picked almost thirty dandelions before plopping next to Eri again. With experienced fingers, I got to work; weaving the flowers together.

In no time I finished my project and smiled to myself at how well it came out.
I shifted so my chest faced Eri's side.
I lifted a hand, placing it on Eri's cheek and turning his head so we were face to face. I carefully lifted my finished project and placed it on Eri's head.

Sitting back, I grinned at the boy as I took in the finished picture. Eri sat crossed legged with a dandelion flower crown sat atop his raven black hair, his pretty green and brown eyes childishly wide with surprise and confusion.
"You look adorable." I sighed.
He turned his head away and I could see the soft red tint appear on the tips of his ears.

"Haven!"

Eri and I both jumped at the shout of my name. Dad was leaning out of the driver's side window waving to me.
"Welp. That's my ride. I'll see you tomorrow amigo." I said as I pushed myself to a stand. With a farewell pat to Eri's shoulder, I walked off towards Dad's car.

"How's Eri's lip doing?"
"It's healing well. He can talk better now."
"That's good."
"Mhm."
I stared out the window and thought about my adorable and brave friend, smiling to myself.

"He also said thanks for the flowers."